After a disappointing loss to Bogota, No. 2 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament on Oct. 28, Pesce and her mates decided to give it everything they had -- all their energy, focus and talent -- to win a state title.

As the victories and titles began piling up, Demarest made another pact -- to take that momentum as far as it could in the NJSIAA/Riegel Printing Tournament of Champions.

Behind Pesce, Heather Park and sisters Haley and Kat Hirsch, the Group 3 champion, Demarest, added another notch to its championship belt with a 25-21, 25-21 victory over the Group 4 champion, second-seed Livingston, No. 5 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, yesterday at the William Paterson University Rec Center in Wayne.

The victory was the seventh straight for third-seeded Demarest (24-3), which takes on No. 1 Immaculate Heart Academy (31-1) in the Tournament of Champions state final at 2 p.m. today at William Paterson.

“Since that county loss, our team has been on a mission, to pull it together and keep each other confident, to just keep going as far as we could in states, " said Pesce, a senior setter.

Park, a senior libero, kept it consistent along the back line for Pesce, who sent sharp transitions to the team's key hitters waiting at the net. From the front line, Kat Hirsch delivered a mix of terminating tips and cross-court kills while Haley Hirsch’s powerful, well-placed kills also doomed Livingston (27-2).

After winning the first game, Demarest was facing a 14-9 deficit in the second game when a timeout was called.

“We said to each other, we’re not losing this," Pesce said. "We’re going back out there and giving it everything we got until the end.”

Stepping back onto the court, Kat Hirsch delivered a cross-court kill, which earned the senior middle blocker the serve. She followed with two service points while sister Haley added a kill. Over the following six minutes, Kat and Haley Hirsch each added a kill to knot the score at 16-16. The game would be tied three more times at 17-17, 18-18 and 20-20 before Kat Hirsch produced five more kills for the victory.

“It feels amazing,” Kat Hirsch said of the victory. “It’s kind of unbelievable, but I knew we would do it. It’s why we won -- we pulled through because we were confident in ourselves and each other.”

After taking the North Jersey, Group 3 crown over Old Tappan, the Group 3 title against West Windsor-Plainsboro South, Demarest has now reached the pinnacle of New Jersey high school girls volleyball.